The Ground She Walks Upon Read Online Free PDF Page A

little of the Gael. "
    Griffen O'Rooney nodded. "It certainly is a right fine gale we're havin' tonight. "
    Peter Maguire's ruddy face turned to ruby as if he were suppressing nervous laughter.
    "No, Griffen, I said the Gael. Gael, " Father Nolan corrected crossly.
    Griffen nodded to show he understood.
    "So who is to begin?" Mayor Maguire asked, tucking another honeycake into his mouth. A crack of thunder broke overhead, and his face drained of color. He looked at the roof as if in prayer. "In truth, I believe I should be the one to tell young Trevallyan here. The geis was wrought from the four fields, and I am Lir's mayor. "
    "The wind scared your mare?"
    The entire table seemed to shudder.
    This time the reverend shouted the explanation. "Griffen, we're off the weather now. We're on to the geis, all right?"
    "The geis. Yes, of course. Let's tell him about the geis." Griffen nodded solemnly, as if what was to come were as inevitable as the death of another old friend. He blew his rather bulbous nose into a faded red handkerchief while all watched breathlessly to see whether his palsied hands would be able to hold the cloth to his nose for the necessary moments. When he was through, he looked around the table at the stares. "I suppose you're all a-waitin' for me to begin, me bein' a storyteller and all. All right, I'll begin.... "
    "No, Griffen, this should come from his priest, " said Father Nolan.
    "But I'm the mayor, and the geis is tied to Lir, " interjected Maguire.
    "No, I'm the one to tell him because my family guards the cross, " announced Drummond.
    "Enough of this bickering like Kilkenny cats. " Trevallyan pushed away from the mantel and walked to the table where the old men sat around the one ghostly candle. "No one need take the sole responsibility of explaining the geis to me, for I'll ask the questions and each of you will answer in your turn. What is the cross, Drummond?"
    Drummond appeared a little disconcerted at the command, as if he weren't prepared to start after all. "It's an old cross, not a Christian cross, mind you, but a Celtic cross, an amulet. It's been in my family since they arrived here. " He sniffed. "And I might remind you all" —he glanced at Father Nolan—"that the Drummonds have been in County Lir over two hundred and fifty years. "
    "Fine. Fine. But what does this cross have to do with anything?" Trevallyan asked, growing impatient.
    "It moved in the case, my lord, " Drummond answered succinctly.
    "It what?"
    "It moved in the case. " Drummond glanced at his fellow council members as if asking them to back him. "You see, the cross was in a case my father had built in the church when he was vicar. The case was impervious to trifling because it was permanently sealed. Yet the cross was moved. It was a sign to begin. "
    "Begin what?" Niall crossed his arms over his chest. Looming in the shadows, with his blond hair slicked back, wet from the walk to the door from the carriage, he looked darker than he was, and older. He carried the air of an ominous and disapproving master. Suddenly Drummond seemed to lose his tongue.
    "The housekeeper Mary Dwyer—Mary—s-said she saw a light from the cross while it was in the case, " Peter Maguire stuttered, nervously picking up the explanation.
    "Yes, but let's be truthful, the woman's been known to be scared of her shadow, " Father Nolan interjected. He looked suspiciously at Drummond as if his worst fear had suddenly occurred to him. "It might have been a signal, but really, how do we know it wasn't a trick of the light? And you— you could be wrong about the cross being moved. Where's our evidence that it was moved now that you've destroyed the case? We might have called this council for nothing, all because of another Protestant error in judgment. "
    "I did not make an error in judgment!" Drummond rose to his feet and looked as if he wanted to call Father Nolan out.
    " 'Tis well you could have!" Father Nolan stood as well. "And if you did, we'll all